Share this

Timeline

Louis IX Hostage to Infidels

Dan Graves, MSL

Many kings and queens have been called great. Few have attained the
title "saint." Louis IX of France was that rarity.

Although in his earlier years he was considered a flirt and
"dandy," fond of luxury and hunting, he settled down and grew
increasingly simple in tastes and devoted to piety. His fidelity to his
wife was unassailable, his concern for his children's upbringing real.
So in love with Christ his savior did he become, that he doted on the
mass, hymns and prayers. Only his duty to the kingdom prevented him
taking monastic vows. Jovial and easy of manner he did not hold his
religious opinions with gloom. He did, however, exhibit a character rare
in any age.

Has there been a modern French king who did not exchange blows with
England? Louis IX won a victory over his island foes, a victory which he
followed with such mild terms (such as restoring English lands seized
earlier by France), that he was accused of selling out his own country.
The peace was long-lasting. For 27 years no European nation attacked
France. Louis, himself endeavored to reconcile warring neighbors in
Christian peace.

Louis brought justice to France. When, for example, a baron hanged
three students for poaching rabbits, the King's response was firm. He
forced the Baron to cede his forest, imprisoned him for a time, fined
him heavily, made him build a chapel in memory of each student and
ordered him to crusade for three years in Palestine. The rights of the
weak were not to be trampled. In fact, he caused the elderly poor to be
fed by his agents and himself fed 120 a day, placing three at his own
table and washing their feet with his own hands.

All that he might have gained for France was thrown away on two
crusades. Louis motives for venturing into Egypt were not ignoble,
however mistaken they appear to us today. He wanted to bring
Christianity to Islam. To attempt to do so by force seemed natural even
to such godly thinkers as St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

Louis assembled a fleet at Aigues-Mortes and sailed to Egypt. His
army was beaten and fled. The Egyptians overtook him, probably on this day, April 6, 1250. (Scholars disagree about
this date, some placing it in 1249 others giving the date as the 5th or
7th.)

Louis was threatened with torture. The Muslims brought forward
"the boot," designed to slowly pulverize leg bones. The King
bravely prepared for the ordeal. His boldness moved his captors. They
allowed him to buy his freedom. Louis shocked both Christian and Muslim
alike when he insisted on paying 10,000 livres of ransom money which had
been overlooked. A Christian must keep his word, he said. Louis died in
Tunisia of dysentery on his next campaign. The worst blot on his record
was his persecution of the Albigensians.